Has Vladimir Putin finally met his match in Sir Elton John? It’s starting to look that way. Or maybe we’re watching an international incident in the making.

Sir Elton’s not backing down from his plans for two nights of performances in Russia this weekend. We have to admit that we had our doubts that it would actually happen, since Russia’s insane antigay laws would seem to outlaw his message of human rights. But organizers have confirmed that the curtain will rise this weekend, antigay laws be damned.

There are lots of ways this could still go south, of course. As eternal pessimists, we’re dreading the news about police crackdowns at the concerts, or skinheads inciting violence, or Russian officials arresting Sir Elton and sending him to the spice mines.

The country hadn’t exactly welcomed LGBT-friendly performers I’m the past. Here are some “greatest hits” of Western performers who ran afoul of Russia’s latest antigay purge.

Madonna

Something you may not know about Madonna is that she’s really good at getting attention. Last year at a concert in St. Petersburg she declared, “Gay people here and all around the world have the same rights.” Authorities were not amused, but they didn’t charge her with violating the propaganda laws — instead, they claimed that she violated her tourist visa by working. (Which actually seems like a legitimate gripe.) Since then, she’s continued to lend her name to the fight for LGBT equality is Russia, joining the HRC in penning a letter about the upcoming Olympics that reads, in part, “Together, we can send a message to LGBT Russians that the world is on their side, and that those who seek to support them aren’t alone in this fundamental fight for fairness.”

Lady Gaga

Wherever Madonna goes, Lady Gaga can’t be far behind. “Tonight, this is my house, Russia. You can be gay in my house,” she told the crowd at a concert last year. Again, authorities dinged her on a visa violation rather than the antigay laws.

Tilda Swinton

She held up a rainbow flag aloft in Moscow a couple of weeks ago. Nobody seemed to hassle her about it.

The Bloodhound Gang

Who knew they were still a thing? Apparently Russian authorities do, because they banned the group from the country for five years after one of them stuffed a Russian flag down his pants. Sounds pretty gay to us.

Jonah Hill and Kristen Bell

Like Madonna, they’re partnering with the HRC to raise awareness in advance if the Sochi Olympics. Hill and Bell donned shirts reading “Love Conquers Hate” in Cyrillic, and posted selfies. This is the only acceptable use of selfies.

Selena Gomez

Nobody’s quite sure why Selena had to cancel her concerts, but the rumor is that authorities were spooked by the pro-equality statements of previous western performers. Officially, she simply couldn’t get a visa in time. Unofficially, we have no idea why Selena Gomez is famous.

I’d sacrifice Elton and his cadre of imbeciles to highlight o the world the plight of our community.

What a win for our community, we lose people who evidently hate us, and we gain a wonderful PR coup overnight.

Dec 6, 2013 at 2:08 pm · @Reply ·

jimbryant

Elton John will probably do nothing to counter homophobia in Russia. His concerts in Russia are designed to make money. Follow the money trail.

Dec 6, 2013 at 4:56 pm · @Reply ·

robho3

Elton John will do anything for money. Remember his Rush Limbaugh concert?

Dec 6, 2013 at 6:11 pm · @Reply ·

jimbryant

I sometimes wonder whether Elton hates the fact that he’s gay. Remember when he married that German woman Renee Blount or some such? Could it be that he hated himself so much, he sought to escape from homosexuality by marrying a woman?

I also wonder if David Furnish is being faithful to him.

Dec 6, 2013 at 9:51 pm · @Reply ·

jwtraveler

Cyrillic is an alphabet, not a language. The slogan on the shirts is written in Russian, I would assume.

Dec 6, 2013 at 10:14 pm · @Reply ·

AuntieChrist

Well at least Dame Elton is doing something. She needs the money, having kids to raise ain’t cheap. And she has been wearing the same jacket for months. My not yet legal husband of 24 years and I donate money to the Equal Rights Campaign every year even though we are always broke we manage to do something by making donations of food clothing and a little cash to AIDS and H.R.C.@jimbryant: @2eo: How do you girls help..???

HRC, that would be the group that not only tried to get gay couples to drop marriage lawsuits because it “Wasn’t the right time” but also whose former head demanded gays sit down and shut up and not push for any rights against our “Friends” in Congress.

So basically the group that sat by, whose staff took invitations to Congressional parties and in return thought it was their job to keep the gay community quiet.

Until grass roots activists told them to where to go, demanded rights from Congress and basically sidelined HRC.

Not saying you don’t have a point, but I’m saying that claiming a donation to HRC means you are engaging in a fight for gay rights is probably not the most legit proof. ;)

Dec 7, 2013 at 9:48 am · @Reply ·

AuntieChrist

@Cam: Well I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer… My Lesbian friend got me a 10 dollar gift for HRC one Christmas so every year I send them ten dollars…They are trotting out celebs and telling me that it’s all good…Maybe I should give that 10 dollars to 2eo and he can invest it in a Darknet conspiracy site…Guess I will just ad it to the AIDS food bank here…I know they do good stuff I volunteer there 3 times a week. Thanks for the info :-)

Dec 7, 2013 at 10:29 am · @Reply ·

2eo

@AuntieChrist: “Well I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer”

You certainly hit the nail on the head.

Dec 7, 2013 at 11:20 am · @Reply ·

Finn

Elton John’s AIDS charities have collected more than 300 million dollars. He has earned the right to be bitcy. I doubt the commenters here have earned the same right.

Dec 7, 2013 at 2:40 pm · @Reply ·

2eo

@Finn: Not all of live under stupid American green pasture thinking. It isn’t a pissing contest. Using this idiotic reasoning how can anyone ever criticise anything?

You can’t criticise the government, after all you haven’t earned the right to be Prime Minister or President.

You can’t criticise the management of the AIDS crisis by medical studies or the negligence and outright wilful ignorance by health systems all over the world because you’re not a member of FEMA.

It’s stupid reasoning like this that lets people like the Koch’s destroy your country.

Dec 7, 2013 at 3:50 pm · @Reply ·

AuntieChrist

@2eo: Well at least we shall always have luminaries such as yourself to live as a shining example to the rest of us.

Dec 7, 2013 at 4:53 pm · @Reply ·

2eo

Ah well if I’m a role model, let me impart some of my wisdom.

Kids, say NO to drugs, unless they’re free and you want them, then do whatever you want.

Always remember that if you want to die, message me first and I’ll rewrite your will.

Yellow snow is delicious.

Dec 7, 2013 at 5:18 pm · @Reply ·

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